Wednesday, November 3, 2010

A strength of a man is what he endures, a free man is never conquered.

I can smell the sweat, feel the whip thin reeds, see the endless cotton among which appeared shadows drifting across fields of clouds. Acres and  acres of high grade soil enriched with the black blood and toil of slaves. The Cotton Gin a powerful symbol of the economic glory of the confederate south. Frederick Douglass was simply another form of the labor and capital exchanged among the various markets, stud men, good workers, dumb too. This kind of suppression leaves no room for the maturation of the soul. Under constant ridicule, subjugation and dominance, African Americans identified themselves as inferior, feeble, powerless. This state of mind passed on through to the generations that preceded them. Generations until men, like Frederick Douglass broke through the barricade of his conditioned mindset and became the impossible, free.
Historians believed that the first moment that Frederick started living his destiny was the day his owner sold him to a cruel farmer on a neighboring property. This new master was known for his ruthless treatment, his discipline, his inflexible expectations of good crops and premium profits. Not one slave remained unbroken on his land if the chose not to, death would be their only gain. Douglass was a young boy, anxious, scared of his new home. So what made him do it, what made him rebel?  After over 400 years of oppression molding his culture and identity was stirred the man to fight?
After a day of strenuous work, Douglass fainted and lost the strength to get up. The overseer called the owner and the owner preceded to whip Douglass. Douglass was beaten until he bled from his skull. He fled after the beating to his old master who simply sent him back to the plantation. Frederick and his owner clash and rather than cower, he fights back and beats his master.
The readings are great because they idolize Frederick Douglass, but identity this moment in time is a condoning of physical violence in order to gain worth. Frederick was a slave, third class at best. He would always be inferior, no matter if he was smart, honest, talented or insightful he was a slave, property. I hate the fact that in historians eyes ( who were definitely all male), regarded this event as defining Frederick Douglass of ultimately making him a man. He had to beat the dominant man down and only when he did so did he gain worth. Therefore this says to me that violence, dominance is what equals freedom.

No comments:

Post a Comment